The evolution of dental education as a profession, 1936-2011, and the role of the journal of dental education.

This article describes selected changes in dental education from 1936 to 2011 and describes how the Journal of Dental Education (JDE) has assisted in both reporting and, at times, championing change. The review provides a series of selective contextual milestones as a backdrop and running commentary for the changing profession of dental education. An assessment of the current state of knowledge in this field is articulated, as are some of the drivers of change.

Envisioning success: the future of the oral health care delivery system in the United States.

The elimination of oral health disparities in the US will require enhancing access to oral health care services. The workshop convened in 2009 by the Institute of Medicine on the "US Oral Health Workforce in the Coming Decade" highlighted both the current workforce's failure to meet the nation's needs as well as the promising opportunities presented by various workforce strategies to significantly enhance access and improve oral health outcomes. In this article, we have briefly reviewed and expanded on the contributions in this special issue of the Journal of Public Health Dentistry, with the goal of identifying common themes and providing a framework for evaluation.

The relationship of periodontal disease to diseases and disorders at distant sites: communication to health care professionals and patients.

Background: The body of research defining relationships among periodontal disease and certain systemic diseases and disorders has been expanding, and questions have been raised regarding what information should be conveyed to health care professionals and patients.

Methods: Representatives from dentistry, medicine, the academic community and the insurance industry convened a two-day workshop July 23 and 24, 2007.

Results: The workshop participants achieved general consensus on a number of issues, including the need for greater cooperation between the health care professions.

The revitalization of U.S. dental education.

Revitalization of dental education in the United States is an imperative, but it depends mainly on the willingness of dental school faculty to make great changes. My remarks address a system of education of dental professionals in relation to other health professionals whose vision seems at times to have surpassed ours. I advocate for a revitalization of our profession in order to stand at the fore when it comes to ensuring the health and well-being of the public.

Leadership: creating a cuiture of caring.

Leadership is characterized in terms of accomplishing mutual goals for the organization, its employees, and its community through vision and creating a community of caring. The examples of Herb Kelleher of Southwest Airlines, Walt Disney, and Dean Arthur A. Dugoni of the University of the Pacific are used to illustrate how this style of leadership plays out in specific accomplishments.

Reforming dental health professions education: a white paper.

The oral health education system is in need of major reform! This is especially apparent in university-based education for the health professions. So-called preclinical as well as clinical education simply has not kept pace with or been responsive enough to shifting patient demographics and patient/population desires and expectations, changing health system expectations, evolving interdisciplinary expertise and practice requirements, new scientific discoveries and scientific information, focus on quality improvement, and/or integration of emerging technologies. Moreover, university-based "dental education" is the most costly professional degree education within the entire university portfolio, and dental student accumulated debt is increasing each year well beyond national inflation estimates.

Cheese consumption and the development and progression of dental caries.

Whereas research into the causes of dental decay has focused on the harmful relationship between dental plaque bacteria and foods, studies into the protective effects of foods have been infrequent and limited in number. Recent investigations showed that milk and cheese could reduce the effects of metabolic acids, and could help restore the enamel that is lost during eating. Postulated mechanisms involve buffering, salivary stimulation, reduction of bacterial adhesion, reduction of enamel demineralization, and/or promotion of remineralization by casein and ionizable Ca and P.